KateDickman.com: CommuniKATE

Russ Somers of Egghead Marketing  has summoned me out of my dark hole and has enticed me to blog.  He has “tagged” me in this cool internet meme.  Since I’ve been so busy with little time to blog and an absolute writer’s block, this was the perfect reason to blog.  A) I didn’t have to think about the subject.  B) It’s fun!

Mr. Somers tagged me for this meme and here I will begin with 7 things you may not definitely don’t know about me. 

1) I was born with one kidney.  No joke!  I had no idea up until I was about 19 and went in for what I thought may have been appendicitis!  The doctor said “Good news Kate!  You don’t have appendicitis but did you know you only have one kidney?”  He went on further to include that this lone kidney was “larger than the average one” since it had to compensate for the lack of a second one.  It was equally weird as it was interesting.  I looked it up on the internet to find that 1 in 750 people are born with one kidney and it is more common in males.  I also came to find out that the left one is more commonly absent.  Welllll waddyaknow?  I’m a girl (obviously) and my right one is actually missing.  Neato gang!

2) I was confused in college (who isn’t?).  I was first an advertising major and once I realized I wasn’t that great at ad copywriting (my professors all worked at big NYC ad agencies and were quite blunt about my lack of talent), I decided advertising wasn’t for me.  I then ventured into television and film while supporting myself financially by doing internet marketing!  When I had to move back to Boston, there really wasn’t/isn’t much of a TV & Film industry here (although it is growing a bit), I decided to go for web marketing as it was more of a prominent and stable industry than the commonly freelanced position of a TV production employee.  

3) One of the most inspiring people I have ever met was a 12 year old girl from a village called Putibiw in west Africa (Ghana to be exact).  This girl had more of a spark than 90% of children you meet in the US and had work ethic that was (to be honest) greater than mine.  She worked hard for her family and was probably one of the most curious people I have ever met.  I helped run a summer camp in Ghana for kids and out of all of them that I met, she impressed me the most.  We still keep in touch today!

4)  My first year of college was in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Much to my dismay, it wasn’t what I expected.  Being car less in Honolulu isn’t really ideal and much of the city is pretty dirty and filled with drugs and crime.  If I ventured off about an hour away, I did find paradise but it was a rare occurrence.  Honolulu, Hawaii – > place to vacation not quite to live.  I then transferred to a university in Manhattan. 

5) I’m a twin.  No, I don’t have some equally stunning (HA!) female clone of me running around.  Instead I have a brother who looks nothing like a female (sorry guys) but currently serves in the US Army.  He is roughly 1 hour and 16 minutes older than I am.  (Poor mother!)  When I was born, I came out like this -> one foot, bum and then my other foot.  Doctors would NEVER allow this kind of erratic and strange (and dangerous!) entrance into this world these days but back then they apparently allowed it and this abnormal entrance was a bit phophetic in that  the rest of my life has been the same way — > unpredictable, strange , awkward but pretty cool too. 

6) I started an email newsletter when I was 12 years old.  It had about 1,000 recipients and I targeted these recipients through AOL 3.0.  I was a massive Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not the movie) fan.  Yes yes..I collected everything “Buffy”.  I was so excited about the show that I began a pretty impressive weekly newsletter that was shot out to eager fans.  Back in the day, the word “SPAM” was non-existent so yes, I did send it unsolicited to those who had “Buffy” listed in their favorite TV shows but I told them to simply email me if they wanted out and only rarely did someone say so.  My email newsletter was filled with colorful fonts, photos and information about the show, it’s characters and more.  :)  I had this newsletter for about a year until I got too busy with extracurricular sports.  People begged me to continue it but Kate started to grow up… (Not sure that process is still done?!)

7) The pressure is on for this last one huh?  Which factoid shall I choose?  Ok, got it.  This one -> I’m currently unemployed.  Ok, that’s not true.  I am, but for myself.  I work at home for myself but am looking for a full time job.  This is totally cheating I know… but I’m looking for a position in Massachusetts but am actually open to possibly relocating somewhere else.  I’d like something in social media and/or web marketing as a whole.  If you want to hook a sista up – comment below or check out my LinkedIn profile. 

Here are 7 interesting people whose blogs are 10x more exciting to read:

Two I know personally…

1. Leslie Poston of  UptownUncorked.com is a social media consultant here in the Boston area and is not only a cool chick but knows her stuff.  She’s a great person to connect with and learn from.  

2. Alejandro Reyes aka the SuccessFool is the man!  He runs a great show on UStream and boasts quite a few viewers per show.  This guy is definitely inspirational.  

Five I just admire from afar…(most are within social media but they ALL rock and are ridiculously knowledgeable!)

3. Shimon Sandler

4. Michelle MacPhearson

5. Michael Brito – Kinda, sorta know him!

6. Scott Monty

7. Joseph Jaffe

Tag, you’re it!